By now, winter had arrived.
Drafts leaked into the ruined temple, making it as cold as a giant icehouse.
Little Shitou and Aniu discovered a monumental secret.
As long as they huddled close to Yang Guo, it was no different from sticking next to a stove.
In the middle of the night, while Yang Guo was closing his eyes to circulate his Qi, two icy, skinny frames snuggled up to him from the left and right.
Aniu even thrust his freezing feet straight under Yang Guo's calves.
Yang Guo snapped his eyes open, veins bulging on his forehead:
"I'm bloody well cultivating here!"
"Yang Guo, it's snowing outside, it's cold..."
"If it's cold, go light a fire to warm yourselves! I'm a human being, not a bed warmer!"
Aniu turned over and snuggled even closer.
Yang Guo raised his palm to smack him, but seeing the unhealed chilblains on Aniu's face, he sighed and forced his hand back down.
Fine, if I have to be a stove, so be it.
Gradually, the defensive capabilities of Nine Yang True Qi began to show.
One morning, while Yang Guo was practicing in front of the temple doorway, he stepped on some moss and tumbled forward.
Thump!
With a dull, heavy thud, his forehead slammed square against the hard doorframe.
Years of accumulated dust on the doorframe rattled and rained down.
Little Shitou came scrambling out of the temple:
"Yang Guo, are you okay?"
Yang Guo rubbed his forehead.
The skin wasn't broken, there was no blood, and not even a red bump flared up.
Instead, a crack split through the rotten wood of the doorframe.
Yang Guo squatted on the ground, thoughtfully rubbing his forehead.
He felt it, then tapped it twice:
"Not bad."
Little Shitou looked bewildered.
"What's not bad?"
Yang Guo smiled and said:
"I can save some money on bruise liniments in the future."
Little Shitou thought Yang Guo had driven himself silly with cultivation.
Before anyone knew it, half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
The Nine Yang True Qi inside Yang Guo's body could finally circulate smoothly without hindrance through his full-body meridians.
The energy was not overwhelming like mountain-toppling waves, but it could certainly be considered pure.
Once activated, the True Qi flowed endlessly without end.
Warmth pervaded all his limbs and bones.
In past winters, sleeping in the ruined temple...
...he had to wrap himself in two layers of straw.
Now he dared to brave the cold in a single tattered padded coat, and his strength had also increased considerably.
An ordinary martial artist who painstakingly trained for five years might not necessarily condense such pure supreme-Yang internal energy.
Yet Yang Guo's mind was as clear as a mirror.
The 《Nine Yang Manual》 was about the foundation of internal force, harmonizing Yin and Yang, and methods of exerting force; it contained no martial arts stances or forms whatsoever.
No matter how profound his internal force was, when it came to a fight, aside from the few fragmentary Carefree Stroll moves Mu Nianci had taught him...
...the rest remained street-hooligan brawl moves like eye-gouging, groin-kicking, and ear-biting.
Invincible against weaklings, but against a tough opponent, he would still be helpless.
The Nine Yin Manual.
The Ancient Tomb.
The Dugu Sword Tomb.
Naturally, he kept all these things in mind.
But one must take life one bite and one step at a time.
...
One evening, as the sun set in the west.
Yang Guo finished his exercise and sat on the threshold, slurping wild herb soup.
At the entrance of the distant alley, Little Shitou came sprinting wild and frantic, not even noticing he had lost one of his straw sandals along the way.
Yang Guo looked up. "Why are you in such a panic? Is a dog chasing you?"
Little Shitou panted heavily:
"Yang Guo! Something terrible happened! Aniu has been detained!"
The broken clay bowl in Yang Guo's hands came to a sudden halt.
"Detained? By whom? Speak slowly."
Ever since Aniu recovered from his illness, he had always felt he owed Yang Guo an enormous favor, so he spent all day looking for work in the city.
In his own words:
"I owe Yang Guo my life. I have to repay this debt somehow."
At fifteen or sixteen years old, being older, he could enter some manors to do short-term hired work.
Helping wealthy families move goods, haul water, or deliver firewood, earning a few copper coins to spend entirely on buying rice.
Yesterday, the Lu Manor south of the city posted a notice hiring temporary hands, offering fifteen copper coins a day plus two meals.
Therefore, before dawn, Aniu had eagerly scampered off over there.
Right now, Little Shitou was out of breath, hands resting on his knees, his face flushed red:
"I... I went to the manor entrance to wait for him to finish, but the main gate was tightly shut! Everyone inside has been put under house arrest, and no one is allowed out!"
"I heard people say that on the walls inside the manor... bloody red handprints were stamped on them!"
Yang Guo's eyelids twitched violently.
"Red handprints?"
Little Shitou swallowed hard, his face filled with terror:
"Yes!"
"A traveling martial artist in the neighborhood caught a glimpse as he passed by, and he was so terrified he wet his pants on the spot."
"He kept muttering about some fairy... a female demon who kills without blinking an eye!"
The broken ceramic bowl in Yang Guo's hands cracked with a sharp snap.
"The Scarlet Maiden, Li Mochou?!"
Little Shitou slapped his thigh:
"Yes, yes, yes! That's her, Li Mochou! Yang Guo, you've heard of her?"
Yang Guo's mind exploded with a loud boom.
The floodgates of his memories burst wide open!
Jiaxing's Lu Manor!
The ten-year pact!
The bloody handprints!
Lu Zhanyuan, He Yuanjun, Lu Liding, Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang...
Li Mochou was going to wash Lu Manor in blood tonight!
That dummy Aniu had chosen of all places to go work at Lu Manor; how was that any different from sticking his neck straight under a guillotine blade?
Yang Guo sprang to his feet, hurling the broken bowl straight onto the pile of rubble:
"Is that kid Aniu out of his mind?!"
Little Shitou said in confusion:
"Didn't his illness get cured a long time ago?"
"I mean in the head!" Yang Guo stomped angrily back into the temple.
"Jiaxing City is so big, yet he just had to pick King Yanluo's palace to throw his life away!"
Little Shitou followed behind:
"Didn't he say they pay fifteen copper coins over there, plus meals?"
Yang Guo froze in his tracks.
Well, if it were me, I'd probably go too.
When poor people faced the six words: "fifteen copper coins plus two meals"...
...their resistance was indeed not very high.
"Yang Guo, what do we do now? Will Aniu be killed by that female demon?" Little Shitou was on the verge of tears.
Yang Guo looked down at his own hands.
He had practiced the Nine Yang Divine Art for half a year.
He had some True Qi now, and his defense was passable.
He could walk tall against street thugs, but against the Scarlet Maiden?
Li Mochou was a long-renowned first-rate expert. A touch from her Ice Soul Silver Needle meant instant death, and a sweep of her horsetail whisk could shatter gold and crack stone!
With his twelve-year-old skinny frame charging in, would he even survive two jabs of her silver needles?
"Yang Guo, why has your face gone so pale?" Little Shitou tugged at the hem of his clothes.
Yang Guo rushed into the ruined temple and yanked out the old, tattered padded coats he kept at the bottom of his trunk.
He slipped one on—not enough—so he put on another.
Little Shitou asked in confusion:
"Yang Guo, are you going to Lu Manor?"
"What else?" Yang Guo answered crisply.
"Aren't you afraid of that female demon?" Little Shitou froze.
Yang Guo dug out another old padded coat and kept putting it on.
"Afraid or not..."
"...Aniu is still inside."
"I can't just let him become a sacrifice for Li Mochou."
Little Shitou grabbed a wooden stick:
"I'm going with you."
Yang Guo turned around and shot him a side-glance:
"Do you know martial arts?"
"No."
"Can you run faster than me?"
Little Shitou fell silent.
Yang Guo continued:
"Then what are you going for?"
"You think Li Mochou hasn't killed enough people? You just have to thrust yourself into her path?"
Then, from under the broken table, he dragged out two neatly cut thin wooden boards.
One was tied firmly over his chest with hemp cloth, and the other was tightly bound to his back.
Little Shitou's eyes went wide with astonishment at the sight:
"Yang Guo... are you going to save someone, or are you preparing to find a pit to bury yourself in?"
Yang Guo tightened his belt and spat crossly:
"What the hell do you know?!"
"That female demon's most vicious weapon is her Ice Soul Silver Needle, which kills the moment it draws blood!"
"How much is face worth? Only when you save your life are you a hero. If your life is gone, you can't even be a coward!"
Little Shitou touched Yang Guo's rock-hard chest:
"Wearing three padded coats plus a wooden board... can that really block hidden weapons?"
Yang Guo went silent for two seconds, tucking a short knife deeper into his sleeve:
"It's better than going in bare-chested."
He grabbed a handy short club of solid jujube wood and strode out of the temple doorway with long strides.
Right at the door, Yang Guo paused, turned around, and stared at Little Shitou:
"Little Shitou."
"Go shout in all the teahouses and taverns in the city. Tell them that the Scarlet Maiden, Li Mochou, is going on a killing spree at Lu Manor!"
"Find those jianghu travelers carrying sabers and swords, and tell them Manor Lord Lu is offering a thousand gold reward, begging heroic warriors for support!"
Little Shitou nodded repeatedly:
"What about the government officials? Should I go report to the authorities?"
Yang Guo snapped in annoyance:
"Report to the bloody authorities?! If those yamen bailiffs go, what can they do besides delivering their heads to Li Mochou on a silver platter?"
"Right, I'll go now!" Little Shitou responded, turning tail and sprinting full tilt toward the bustling city market.
Outside the ruined temple, a fierce wind whipped against the loose corners of Yang Guo's bulky clothing.
He tightened the jujube wood board on his chest, the trace of streetwise cunning in the depths of his eyes vanishing in an instant.
Replaced by an unprecedented ferocity and grim resolve.
Yang Guo raised his head toward Lu Manor south of the city, the strand of Nine Yang True Qi raging inside him like wildfire through all his limbs and bones.
Shifting his footing, he abruptly activated the Carefree Stroll footwork.
His figure quickly vanished around the end of the street.
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